'You Stink' activists criticize trash plan

(MENAFN- Arab News) BEIRUT: The organizers of Lebanon's 'You Stink' mass protests over piles of festering trash in the streets on Thursday criticized the government's long-awaited plan to deal with the crisis.

After a six-hour session the Cabinet announced late Wednesday measures including handing waste management duties to municipalities and temporarily reopening the country's largest landfill site.
But activists said the plan was too vague and did not meet their demands.
'Our first reaction to the plan is a negative one especially in terms of the reopening of the Naameh landfill even if it is temporary' said Lucien Bourjeily from the 'You Stink' campaign.
He said it was unclear how waste management duties would be transferred to municipalities a key demand of his protest movement.
'What happened is what the government always resorts to when it wants to calm down the street: partial solutions 10 percent of which will be implemented' Bourjeily said.
Lebanon's political system is deeply divided between two main blocs which has caused months of political paralysis.
One bloc is led by the Shiite Hezbollah movement that is allied with Syria and backed by Iran and the other is headed by Sunni former prime minister Saad Hariri who is supported by Gulf Arabs and the West.
Under the plan the Naameh landfill is to be reopened for seven days to dump waste already in the streets in a step that risks opposition from residents of nearby villages.
Over the next 18 months two landfills in the northern region of Akkar and the eastern border area of Masnaa would take in waste as a medium-term measure.
The two sites are already being used as local landfills but they will be adapted to meet environmental standards and accept waste from Beirut and other areas a plan not everyone is happy with.
'Akkar is our heaven not your trash dump' an activist group based in the area wrote on its Facebook page.
In the meantime municipalities will prepare the necessary infrastructure to take on all waste management-related responsibilities. But it remains unclear how municipalities will recycle or dump waste.
The Cabinet plan was met with cautious approval from environmental experts. 'The plan is viable and it can be implemented. We can say it's 80-percent positive' said Ziad Abichaker of Cedar Environmental a group that specializes in recycling technology.